Further to the prospectus supplement issued on April 30, 2021 and subject to shareholder approval secured on August 6, 2021, the MSIF Emerging Markets Small Cap Portfolio was merged into the MSIF Next Gen Emerging Markets Portfolio on or about Friday August 13, 2021.

Class C shares include deferred sales charge of 1.00% which declines to zero after first year.

Where the net expense ratio is lower than the gross expense ratio, certain fees have been waived and/ or expenses reimbursed. These waivers and/or reimbursements will continue for at least one year from the date of the applicable fund’s current prospectus (unless otherwise noted in the applicable prospectus) or until such time as the fund's Board of Directors acts to discontinue all or a portion of such waivers and/or reimbursements. Absent such waivers and/or reimbursements, returns would have been lower. Expenses are based on the fund's current prospectus. The minimum initial investment is $1,000,000 for Class I shares.

Performance shown for the Fund’s Class I shares reflects the performance of the common shares of the Frontier Predecessor Fund for periods prior to September 17, 2012.

The Fund has suspended offering Class L shares of the Portfolio to all investors.

Class R6 shares, are  being offered only to eligible investors who must meet a minimum initial investment of $5,000,000 or be a defined contribution, defined benefit or other employer sponsored employee benefit plan, whether or not qualified under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), in each case subject to the discretion of the Portfolio's investment advisor.

Pursuant to an agreement and plan of reorganization between Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc., on behalf of the Fund, and Morgan Stanley Frontier Emerging Markets Fund, Inc. (the “Frontier Predecessor Fund”), on September 17, 2012 the Fund acquired all of the assets and liabilities of the Frontier Predecessor Fund in exchange for Class I shares of the Fund (the “Frontier Reorganization”). As a result of the Frontier Reorganization, the Fund is the accounting successor of the Frontier Predecessor Fund. The historical performance information shown reflects, for the period prior to the Frontier Reorganization, the historical performance of the Frontier Predecessor Fund. The Frontier Predecessor Fund may have performed differently if it were an open-end fund since closed-end funds are generally not subject to the cash flow fluctuations of an open-end fund. 

Effective March 31, 2017, the name of the Portfolio was changed from Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc. Frontier Emerging Markets Portfolio to Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc. Frontier Markets Portfolio. There were no other changes to the Portfolio or investment process.

Effective June 30 2021, the Morgan Stanley Frontier Markets Portfolio was renamed to Morgan Stanley Next Gen Emerging Markets Portfolio, with an expanded investment universe to include equity securities of companies operating in emerging market countries, which include frontier emerging market countries, and an updated investment approach to reflect top-down allocations are made at the macro and thematic levels.  Please see the Prospectus for more details.

Growth of Investment illustration is based on an initial investment of $10,000 made since fund inception, assumes reinvestment of dividends and capital gains and application of fees, but does not include sales charges. Performance would have been lower if sales charges had been included. Results are hypothetical.

Subject to change daily. Fund information, Portfolio Composition and Characteristics are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be deemed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or securities in the sectors or region presented. 

Returns are net of fees and assume the reinvestment of all dividends and income. Returns for less than one year are cumulative (not annualized). Performance of other share classes will vary.

Please keep in mind that double-digit returns are highly unusual and cannot be sustained. Investors should also be aware that these returns were primarily achieved during favorable market conditions. 

This material is a general communication, which is not impartial and all information provided has been prepared solely for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell any particular security or to adopt any specific investment strategy. The information herein has not been based on a consideration of any individual investor circumstances and is not investment advice, nor should it be construed in any way as tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice. To that end, investors should seek independent legal and financial advice, including advice as to tax consequences, before making any investment decision.

PORTFOLIO CHARACTERISTICS DEFINITIONS 
Active Share is the fraction of the portfolio or fund that is invested differently than its benchmark as of the last day of the reporting period. A portfolio with a high degree of Active Share does not assure a fund’s relative outperformance. Active Share calculation may consolidate holdings with the same economic exposure. Earnings per share (EPS) growth is the weighted average of earnings per share growth for all securities in the portfolio projected for the past five fiscal years. Earnings per share for a company is defined as total earnings divided by shares outstanding. The Net Asset Value (NAV) per share is determined by dividing the value of the fund's portfolio securities, cash and other assets, less all liabilities, by the total number of common shares outstanding. The common share market price is the price the market is willing to pay for shares of the fund at a given time. Price/earnings (NTM) This forward P/E ratio estimates a company's likely earnings per share for the next 12 months. Return on equity (ROE) is the amount of net income returned as a percentage of shareholders equity.

Turnover is sourced from the fund's current prospectus.

The index data displayed under allocations are calculated using MSIM and other third-party methodologies and may differ from data published by the vendor.

Forecasts/estimates are based on current market conditions, subject to change, and may not necessarily come to pass.

RISK/RETURN DEFINITIONS
Excess Return or value added (positive or negative) is the portfolio’s return relative to the return of the benchmark. Alpha (Jensen's) is a risk-adjusted performance measure that represents the average return on a portfolio or investment above or below that predicted by the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) given the portfolio's or investment's beta and the average market return. Prior to 6/30/2018 Alpha was calculated as the excess return of the fund versus benchmark. Beta is a measure of the relative volatility of a security or portfolio to the market's upward or downward movements. Information ratio is the portfolio’s alpha or excess return per unit of risk, as measured by tracking error, versus the portfolio’s benchmark. R squared measures how well an investment’s returns correlate to an index. An R squared of 100 means the portfolio performance is 100% correlated to the index’s, whereas a low r-squared means that the portfolio performance is less correlated to the index’s. Sharpe ratio is a risk-adjusted measure calculated as the ratio of excess return to standard deviation. The Sharpe ratio determines reward per unit of risk. The higher the Sharpe ratio, the better the historical risk-adjusted performance. Standard deviation measures how widely individual performance returns, within a performance series, are dispersed from the average or mean value. Tracking error is the amount by which the performance of the portfolio differs from that of the benchmark. Upside/downside market capture measures annualized performance in up/down markets relative to the market benchmark.

RISK CONSIDERATIONS
There is no assurance that a Portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the Portfolio will decline and that the value of Portfolio shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Market values can change daily due to economic and other events (e.g. natural disasters, health crises, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that affect markets, countries, companies or governments. It is difficult to predict the timing, duration, and potential adverse effects (e.g. portfolio liquidity) of events. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this Portfolio. Please be aware that this Portfolio may be subject to certain additional risks. In general, equities securities’ values also fluctuate in response to activities specific to a company. Investments in foreign markets entail special risks such as currency, political, economic, market and liquidity risks. The risks of investing in emerging market countries are greater than the risks generally associated with investments in foreign developed countries. The risks of investing in frontier emerging markets are greater than risks associated with investments in other foreign or U.S. issuers and they are often considered highly speculative in nature. Investment opportunities in many frontier emerging markets may be concentrated in the banking industry, which could have a disproportionate impact on the portfolio’s performance. Stocks of small- and medium- capitalization companies entail special risks, such as limited product lines, markets and financial resources, and greater market volatility than securities of larger, more established companies. By investing in investment company securities, the portfolio is subject to the underlying risks of that investment company's portfolio securities. In addition to the Portfolio's fees and expenses, the Portfolio generally would bear its share of the investment company's fees and expenses. Derivative instruments may disproportionately increase losses and have a significant impact on performance. They also may be subject to counterparty, liquidity, valuation, correlation and market risks. Illiquid securities may be more difficult to sell and value than publicly traded securities (liquidity risk).

Morningstar
Rankings: The percentile rankings are based on the average annual total returns for the periods stated and do not include any sales charges, but do include reinvestment of dividends and capital gains and Rule 12b-1 fees. The highest (or most favorable) percentile rank is 1 and the lowest (or least favorable) percentile rank is 100. The top-performing fund in a category will always receive a rank of 1.

Ratings: The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Ratings do not take into account sales loads.

© 2024 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS 

See the Fund's prospectus for information related to a primary benchmark index selected (if applicable) to comply with a regulation that requires the Fund's primary benchmark to represent the overall applicable market.

The MSCI Frontier Emerging Markets Net Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to serve as a benchmark covering all countries from the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and the lower size spectrum of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

The Blended Index performance shown is calculated using the MSCI Frontier Markets Net Index from inception through 29 June 2021 and the MSCI Frontier Emerging Markets Net Index thereafter.

The index is unmanaged and does not include any expenses, fees or sales charges. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Any index referred to herein is the intellectual property (including registered trademarks) of the applicable licensor.

Please consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the fund carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the fund. To obtain a prospectus, download one at morganstanley.com/im or call 1-800-548-7786. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. 

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) is the asset management division of Morgan Stanley.